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DECEMBER 8, 1869. : 








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KXIKIRCISES 


OF 


DEDICATION 


AND 


INSTALLATION 


firs {jonsresational {nven 
SUFFIELD, CONN., 


WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1869. 


PRESS OF WILEY, WATERMAN & EATON, 


HARTHORD. 





. 











Rev. Walter Barton. 


R. 8. DEvamateR, Photographer, Hartford, Conn. 


DEDICATORY SERMON. 


But will God, in very deed, dwell with men on the earth? 


Second Chronicles, 6; 18. 


THe temple on Mount Zion, vast in its dimensions, 
costly in its materials, and resplendent in its whole 
appearance, was finished, The people had now met to 
dedicate the building to God with prayer and thanks- 
giving. 

The king himself takes the lead in the services. 
Kneeling on a scaffold of burnished brass, before the 
sacred altar, and in the presence of the whole congrega- 
- tion of Israel, with outstretched hands and uplifted eyes, 
he offers to the God of heaven and earth the consecrat- 
ing prayer. 

But hardly has Solomon begun his prayer, before he 
seems to be overwhelmed with, not the grandeur and 
magnitude of the house, but the magnitude of the pur- 
pose for which it had been built. 

There is a solemn pause in the prayer, and then the 
yet more solemn exclamation, “ But will God, in very 
deed, dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven 
and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how 
much less this house which I have built ?”’ 

And we also, as we come to consecrate our new house 
of worship, are led to recall the purposes and hopes 


4 


which led us to rise up and build it. After nearly two 
years of patient and persevering endeavor, the work is 
completed, and we are gathered here to-day to present. 
it to Him who, as we believe, moved us to prepare it, 
and: who, we hope and pray, will accept and with his 
presence hallow it. 

But if such our purpose, what a purpose it was! If 
such our prayer, what a prayer it is! May not we, too, 
pause in the midst of these solemnities, and allow each 
soul to put to itself and to God the interrogation 
of the text, ‘‘But wll God, in very deed, dwell with men 
on the earth !” 

Great and high as this purpose appears, it 1s undoubt- 
edly the true one. Soul-stirring and awe-inspiring as 
this expectation is, we shall endeavor to show that it 1s 
well founded. 

My theme therefore is, Zhe Scripture Idea of the Sanc- 
tuary. My aim will be to fasten in your minds as firmly 
as I may be able, this great truth, that God awell dwell 
with men on the earth, and that this fact gives to every 
christian temple its highest honor and glory. 

There always have been, and doubtless always will be, 
various ideas as to what a sanctuary should be. To 
some, it is no more significant and no more sacred than 
any other building. To others, it is only a place for 
performing certain rites and ceremonies. To yet others, 
the church is only a place for almost silent communion 
with one’s own soul and with God. A fourth class 
would have the church directly the opposite of this, and 
use 1t only as a place for conference and mutual edifica- 
tion. But none of these views seem to give us the real 
and true idea of the christian sanctuary. 

He who moves men to build Him a temple, tells them 
to what end He does it, namely, that He may have a visi- 


5 


ble dwelling-place where He may meet and commune with 
men and they with Him. This at least is the scripture 
idea of a sanctuary or house of worship. Let us, then, 
following our Saviour’s rule, ‘“‘Search the Scriptures,” 
and see what they teach in regard to the subject before 
us. 

The Patriarchs who were more or less nomadic in their 
mode of living, had no sanctuaries or permanent places 
of worship, but wherever they went they set up altars. 
These were generally built in places hallowed by reli- 
gious associations: as, for instance, where God had 
appeared to holy men and bestowed upon them some 
special token of his favor. Sometimes they were 
erected simply as memorials, but usually for the offering 
of sacrifice. Noah erected an altar and worshiped God 
near the place where he left the ark. He seems not to 
have waited for any special command to prepare such 
an altar; and undoubtedly it was all the more pleasing 
to God, who “ loveth a cheerful giver,” that it was done 
‘not of constraint but willingly.” 

Looking back upon the wonderful interposition which 
kept his little household safe in the midst of the awful 
catastrophe which swept from existence all his cotempo- 
raries, the first and deepest desire of his heart was to 
express in acts of worship his devout thanksgiving to 
God for His preserving goodness. 

The first thing we find done in the new world was an 
act of worship. Noah’s first care was not to build an 
house for himself, but an altar for God. 

And the other Patriarchs did the same, all along the 
line of their devious wanderings. And wherever they 
set up altars, there to them was the house of God. 

Abraham’s altar, which he set up at Beersheba and on 
Mount Moriah, was as truly a sanctuary as_ this. 


6 


Wherever the ‘father of the faithful” dwelt, there he 
builded an altar to the Lord. 

And Jacob, when, instead of an altar, he set up only ~ 
a stone pillar on which his head had rested during the 
previous night, said, ‘‘This stone which I have set 
for a pillar shall be God’s house.” The interview which 
God had granted him there, ‘in visions of the night,” 
made it such. And on awaking he said, ‘Surely the 
Lord is in this place, and I knew it not;” and he was 
afraid, and said, ‘‘ How dreadful is this place; this is 
none other but the house of God and this is the gate of 
heaven.” - | 

In the thoughts of Jacob that stone pillar was invested 
with all the sacredness of a real temple. And who can 
doubt that in the sight of God it was as honorable as a 
temple? All the wealth expended, all the art and skill 
displayed in Grecian or Roman architecture, never made _ 
of stones a pile more precious than Jacob’s simple stone 
with its heavenly history. ; 

And in all this we behold not only the antiquity of 
our religion, but we also learn the carliest idea and the 
original name of a place of worship. 

The name, God’s house, the occasion, God's presence — 
with the worshiper. That rude stone was not only a 
figure of the tabernacle and temple afterwards to be 
built, but was also a shadow or symbol of that mystical 
but spiritual house, the church, composed of living 
stones, to which Saint Paul seems plainly to refer in the 
words, ‘‘That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to 
behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church 
of the living God, the pél/ar and ground of the truth.” 
The church being the reality, the truth the substance, of 
which Jacob’s stone pillar was the shadow. 

The Tabernacle which succeeded the altar as God’s 


fi 


House was made in the wilderness of Sinai, by Moses, 
in accordance with a special appointment and after a 
special plan that God gave him in the Holy Mount. It 
was the first religious structure in which the Eternal 
One vouchsafed to dwell on the earth. It was a sort of 
portable temple, God’s movable dwelling-place, and was 
not unfitly esteemed the center of the ceremonial wor- 
ship. 

The first mention of it is in these words, ‘‘ Let them 
make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” 
And after having given directions about the form and 
structure of the Mercy Seat, the Lord said to Moses, 
“There will I meet with thee and I will commune with 
thee from above the Mercy Seat.” 

It is only when we keep this divine purpose and pro- 
mise in mind that we are able to account for the multi- 
tude of rules and regulations connected with the structure 
and worship of this ancient tabernacle. All the persons, 
vessels and instruments employed in the tabernacle wor- 
ship must be fitted to appear as in God’s presence. 

But did the high and lofty One stand in any need of 
such a movable habitation? Though it was a glorious 
structure, built in the taste of heaven, designed and 
reared by the inspiration of the Spirit, and consecrated 
by Moses, still can it be reasonably thought a meet 
apartment for Jehovah? ‘Thus saith the Lord, the 
heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool; where 
is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the 
place of my rest?” 

What is the whole universe but a vast and magnificent 
cathedral whose aisles, rich with the tracery of the stars, 
are everywhere inhabited by Deity? Heathen gods, to 
which Greeks and Romans erected magnificent temples, 
were supposed literally to dwell in them and to claim 


8 


them as their residence after they were duly dedicated. 
But the christian’s God can be confined in no such struc- 
ture, nor needs He to be housed from the scorching sun 
or the sweeping storm in temples made with hands. And 
yet in a special manner God did own the tabernacle as 
His residence. ‘ Then,” says Moses, ‘ta cloud covered 
the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord 
filled the tabernacle.” All things having been made 
ready, the divine Occupant in this august manner made 
his solemn entry into the habitation in which He had 
promised to dwell. 

Thus, what was mere pretense or delusion among the 
heathen was among the Jews a glorious and solemn 
reality. The object of such a structure, we must 
remember, was not, like that of a church now, to serve as 
a place of shelter for the assembled worshipers; for 
these were gathered not 7, but before and around the 
tabernacle. There was a double design in this building, 
namely, as a vistble palace for the King of Israel, and 
as a suitable center or medium of that solemn worship 
which the people were there to render to Him. 

To the most ignorant and debased Jew, the symbol- 
ism of the tabernacle was at least witness of the near- 
ness of the great King. By His own appointment, it 
was God’s House. And this explains the deep rever- 
ence and strong attachment which. the Jews ever mani- 
fested for it. They felt toward this sanctuary as David 
did toward the one that succeeded it. ‘‘ How amiable 
are thy tabernacles,O Lord of hosts!” ‘TI will abide 
in thy tabernacle forever.” 

How touching and beautiful, though sad, the scene 
where, while the armies of Israel are contending with the 
Philistines, the aged Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside 
watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God, and 


9 


his eyes were dim that he could not see; and when told 
by a messenger just from the scene of conflict that his two 
sons were slain and the ark of God taken — the broken: 
hearted and almost blind father and priest, forgetting, 


_ as it would seem, the fate of his two sons, can only think 


of what had befallen the ark. ‘‘And it came to pass 
when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell 
from off the seat backward, and his neck brake and he 


Pad: 


To Eh, the taking of the ark from Israel was like 
breaking their intercourse with their covenant God. 

Though the tabernacle itself has passed away, its 
many and sacred lessons are a part, and no small part, 
of that Book which is to guide us until the words of 
the inspired revelation are fulfilled, ‘‘ Behold, the taber- 
nacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, 
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be 
with them, and be their God.” 

The tabernacle had a future as well as a present mean- 
ing. Almost everything connected with it was in some 
way made a type of Christ, of the church, or of heaven. 
Without some general acquaintance, therefore, with the 
form and character of the Jewish tabernacle, it will be 
impossible to understand many portions of the Old and 
New Testaments, or to appreciate the thousand allusions 
to it scattered over the whole of sacred literature. 

This structure was one of the most convincing answers 
ever given to the question in our text, and also one of 
the most striking types of Jesus Christ, who was “a min- 
ister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which 
the Lord pitched and not man.” 

But while a movable temple was suited to a nomadic 
people, when they became settled, exchanging their tents 
for houses, their tabernacle in like manner became a fied 


2 


10 


temple. As David sat in his royal house at Jerusalem, 
when the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies, 
he said unto the prophet Nathan, ‘‘ See now, I dwell in 
a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within 
curtains.” He therefore purposed that the house of ° 
God should no longer be a tent, but a fabric of stone 
suited to the altered condition of the people. 

The king’s purpose pleased the prophet, who bade 
him go forward and do all that was in his heart. The 
plan also pleased the Lord, and He said to Nathan, “Go 
and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt 
thou build me a house for me to dwell in? Whereas I 
have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought 
up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, 
but have «walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.” 

The place was appointed by God, the materials and 
the means were provided in ample abundance by David, 
but the house was reared by his son, because the king, 
his father, had been a man of war. 

The plan of the temple, like that of the tabernacle, 
was from God. And it was erected for the same glo- 
rious end, that God might still dwell with men on the 
earth. | 

As God required that the tabernacle should be reared 
with costly and curious skill, and condescended even to 
inspire the artificers with wisdom that the workmanship 
might be unequalled in beauty, so He required that the 
temple should be made even more grand and attractive. 

From the time of the building of the temple we lose 
sight of the tabernacle altogether. It seems to have 
been put on one side of the temple, as a relic. On com- 
paring the temple with the tabernacle, we find that all . 
the arrangements were identical, and the dimensions of 
every part were exactly double those of the preceding 


11 


structure. It also contained the same furniture. But 
the materials were more costly and durable. If, as is 
supposed by Bishop Cumberland, the gold and silver 
used for the work of constructing the tabernacle 
amounted to eight hundred thousand dollars, to say 
nothing of the cost of other materials and of the furni- 
ture, the cost of building and furnishing the temple must 
have been immense, amounting to millions. 

The temple was seven years and six months in build- 
ing, and when completed was the most gorgeous and 
magnificent one ever erected to the worship of Jehovah. 
It soared above the city in matchless splendor—the 
very triumph of architecture—and was called ‘the 
perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth.” 
An old divine has well said, ‘It seems as if God had 
made it his business to build a Solomon in order that 
Solomon might build Him a temple.” 

To every truly devout Jew it was the most important 
spot upon earth. David but gave expression to the 
universal sentiment and belief of his brethren when he 
said, ‘‘ The Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it 
for his habitation. This is my rest forever; here will I 
dwell, for I have desired it.” 

During the period of the theocracy, which signifies a 
visible representation of the reign of Jehovah, He was 
regarded as both God and King. The tabernacle and 
temple were each considered as His palace—the holy 
habitation of the invisible King. The laws were there 
delivered by Him. There he gave visible manifestations 
of his glory. There peace and war — questions deter- 
mined under all governments by the supreme authority 
—were referred to Him. All idolatry and rebellion 
was treason. Almost every dealing of God, and every 
event in their national history, was from this time closely 


12 


connected with the temple. There was God to be wor- 
shipped. There were intimations of his will to be 
sought and obtained. There, when any had sinned or 
become defiled, must they go for cleansing. There, 
when any had mercies to acknowledge or guidance to 
seek, must they go to meet God, and learn His pleasure, 
for God’s way was in the sanctuary. 

When He took up His abode in it there was witnessed 
the same glorious display of the divine presence as was 
seen at the consecration of the tabernacle. The sym- 
bolic cloud that appeared at first on Mount Sinai, and 
afterwards rested upon Moses’s tent and upon the taber- 
nacle, now rested upon the temple. When it was dedi- 
cated to the worship of the Most High, he honored it: 
with the Shekinah, or visible manifestation of his 
presence. We are told that ‘‘the cloud filled the house 
of the Lord,so that the priests could not stand to minis- 
ter because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had 
filled the Lord’s house.” Whilst the firmament rang 
with the music of cymbals, psalteries and harps, and the 
voices of a multitude of trained singers rose high in 
God’s praise, there descended majestically a cloud of 
glory, and the Almighty took possession of his house 
with such overpowering tokens of approval, that the 
priests shrank back as though withered and overcome 
by the brilliant manifestation. 

And after the dedication, the Lord ap seared unto 
Solomon, and said, ‘I have heard thy prayer and thy 
supplication which thou hast made before me. I have 
hallowed this house which thou hast built to put my 
name there forever, and mine eyes and mine heart shall 
be there perpetually.” Oh, how could there ever be, 
after this, a question or doubt that God will and does 
dwell with men on the earth, and that He loves, the 


18 


gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob? 
The symbolic cloud still witnessed to the divine presence. 
~And this, as we learn so often in the Psalms, was the 
temple’s crowning glory. “Out of Zion, the perfection 
of beauty, God hath shined.” He shone owt of Zion 
because He dwelt in Zion. The world, previous to the 
coming of Christ, had not a ray of saving light but what 
issued from Zion. 

How dark and wretched the ancient world would 
have been but for the rays of light emitted upon it 
from that sacred spot. God’s works were indeed glo- 
rious and wonderful then as now, but they needed a 
higher glory still, even the glory of Jehovah’s perfec- 
tions that shone through the temple worship and sym- 
bols upon a benighted world. 

“From Egypt the world learned something of God's 
justice and severity against a proud and cruel king. 
From Mount Sinai the world learned God’s holiness and 
majesty, and received that perfect law which was never 
to be abrogated. ‘But it was from Mount Zion that 
the world was to learn and behold with joy God’s mercy 
and grace, the mild beams of which were even then 
transmitted to distant nations.” 

Zion was not only the Gospel of the Jewish church 
in places and things,— it was a center whence the divine 
communications issued forth to enlighten in some meas- 
ure all the nations of the world. 

How often we find the Psalmist calling upon the 
heathen to praise God for his greatness, his majesty and 
his goodness. Zion, in its worship and in its worship- 
ers, was a witness of the one true God to all mankind. 

It was the pride of Greece that from her shone forth 
the rays of philosophy, of poetry, of sculpture, of elo- 
quence. Let her take due credit for these; but let it 


14 


not be forgotten that from her also issued the shame of 
filthy and abominable idolatries. In the days of Paul, 
it was ‘easier to find in Athens a god than a man.” 

But from the temple on Mount Zion shone forth the 
perfections of the only true God, and those ordinances 
which were the emblems of a brighter economy which 
should ere long be published to the world. 

The true idea of the sanctuary may also be gathered 
from the words of Christ. To Him, as to David, the 
temple was God’s house. At one time He calls it “ My 
Father's house ;” at another, ‘My house.” And how 
expressive and decisive, as to the subject before us, our 
Lord's words, ‘‘ Whoso shall swear by the temple, swear- 
eth by it,” and by what else? By the imposing rites 
performed there, or by the splendid music, and the great 
gatherings held here? No, but by it, ‘and by Him 
that dwelleth therein.” , | 

Like the tabernacle, the temple also was a type of 
heaven. To the almost countless number of apartments 
into which the temple was disposed, our Saviour refers 
in those words so full of comfort to his sorrowing disci- 
ples, ‘‘In My Father’s house are many mansions.” 

The imagery is singularly beautiful and happy when 
considered as an allusion to the temple, which our Lord 
not unfrequently called his Father’s house. It pointed 
forward and upward to the blest seats and the many 
mansions of the New Jerusalem which Christ is prepar- 
ing for the final and eternal home of all his children. 

How sad, then, to think that this mighty and magni- 
ficent structure — crowned with the divine presence and 
glory —hallowed by such a ritual and worship — 
renowned by such great and imposing assemblies — 
sacred by ten thousand memories, and by the. highest 


“ag 


aspirations and tenderest associations of the human soul, 
— must pass away! 

Who wonders that the disciples were amazed when 
they heard their Master say of the buildings of the tem- 
ple, “There shall not be left one stone upon another 
that shall not be thrown down.” 

The disciples had often contemplated it with wonder 
and admiration, as the grandest or the only sanctuary 
upon earth. The marble of the Herodian temple, which 
they were then gazing upon, was so white that at a dis- 
tance it appeared like a mountain of snow, and the 
spikes of gold upon the top, and the plates of gold upon 
the sides, reflected so strong and dazzling an effulgence, 
that the eye could no more bear it than it could bear the 
splendor of the sun. 

But the conditions upon which God had promised to 
dwell there not being kept, the divine presence and 
glory were withdrawn, and the temple, turned into a 
den of thieves by man, and forsaken of God, became a 
proverb and a by-word among all nations. When Christ 
went out of the temple for the last time, He left it a 
spiritual ruin, and before that generation had passed 
away it was made by the Romans a /eral ruin. But 
what now shall take the place of the altar, tabernacle 
and temple, as God’s house ? 

All these dispensations seem to have been introduc- 
tory and preparatory. The vdstble glory of Israel has 
departed. Those shadows of good things have vanished, 
but the substance remains. All through the Old Testa- 
ment dispensation, the question, ‘‘ Will God dwell with 
men on the earth?” was answered by reference to the 
tabernacle and temple. But when these, having fulfilled 
their mission, were removed, the same question was 
finally and forever settled by the coming of Christ. 


16 


“In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” 
He was the Great Revealer of God to man; hence his 
name Hmmanuel. 

Therefore, Zion of old ‘“‘had no glory by reason of the 
glory that excelled.” 

There was nothing in the Jewish economy which had 
its seat on Mount Zion that could make the worshipers 
or ‘‘the comers thereunto perfect.” 

It is true, a great advance had been made toward 
perfection; but when Christ the substance of all the 
types appeared, those types were removed. Even Saint 
Paul called the ancient ceremonial worship a yoke and 
a burden, which was too expensive, painful and oppres- 
sive to be borne. And we find that before the temple 
service had passed away there was sucha looking and 
longing for something better that synagogues began to be 
erected. Just when these places of worship began to 
be built is unknown. During the Babylonish captiv- 
ity, the Jews, who were then deprived of their customary 
religious privileges, were wont to collect around some 
prophet or other pious man, who taught them and their 
children in religion, exhorted to good conduct, and read 
out of the sacred books. These assemblies, or meetings, 
became, in progress of time, fixed in certain places, and 
a regular order was observed in them. Such appears 
to have been the origin of synagogues. 

The Temple was a single building, which the Jews 
were forbidden to multiply, it being designed as a center 
of union to the whole nation, as well as the immediate 
seat of the divine presence, which was confined to that 
spot. 

It was eminently adapted to prevent innovations in 
the solemnities of religion. 

But the Jewish synagogues, which might be built at 


VV 


pleasure, and soon were spread over the whole land, 
were equally arid even more calculated to increase per- 
sonal piety, to keep the people from relapsing into idol- 
atry, and to perpetuate in their minds the knowledge of 
revealed truth. Not Moses only, but the Prophets were 
read in them every Sabbath day; and thus the Messianic 
hopes of Israel were universally diffused. The simple, 
edifying devotion in which mind and ‘heart could alike 
enter, in these unpretending sanctuaries, would be better 
fitted to attract the heathen proselytes who might have 
been repelled by the bloody sacrifices of the temple. 

The size of the Synagogue varied with the population 
to be accommodated. So far as we can now learn, there 
were no fixed laws of proportion for its dimensions, like 
those which are traced in the the tabernacle and temple. 
Its position, however, was determinate. It stood, if 
possible, on the highest ground, in or near the village 
or city to which it belonged. Where an elevated place 
could not be had, a tall pole rose from the roof to render 
if conspicuous. 

Its direction was:so fixed that the worshipers, as they 
entered and as they prayed, looked toward Jerusalem. 

The practice of a fixed direction in prayer is often 
alluded to in the Old Testament. It is seen often in the 
Psalms, and appears as a fixed rule in the devotions of 
Daniel. His chamber windows by which he was accus- 
tomed to pray three times a day, opened toward Jeru- 
salem. That this was the direction of Jewish devotion 
is recognized in the dedication prayer of Solomon. God 
was entreated to hear not only the prayers of his peo- 
ple but also the supplications of strangers made toward 
the city which He had chosen and toward the house 
built for His name. ; 

When a synagogue building was finished, it was set 

3 


18 


apart, as the temple had been, by a special prayer of 
dedication. Thenceforth it had a sacred character. 
The common acts of life, eating, drinking, reckoning up 
accounts, were forbidden in it. No one might pass 
through it as a short cut. And when it was no longer 
used for worship, the building might not be applied to 
any base purpose. 

Our Lord shows what a high estimate He placed upon 
these synagogues, which in hie day were very numerous 
at Jerusalem and throughout Judea, by worshiping in 
them in his youth and in his manhood, by teaching there 
some of the most glorious truths, and by working in 
them some of his mightiest miracles. Luke tells us that 
it was Christ’s custom to go into them on the Sabbath 
day. And He himself said, ‘I ever taught in the syna- 
gogue.” 

I have dwelt thus at some length upon the sanctuary 
that succeeded or supplied, in some measure, the place 
of the temple, because of the great resemblance as to 
structure and worship between those ancient synagogues 
and the edifices built for christian worship from the 
apostolic days downward. 

The platform of the early christian Church was evi- 
dently framed on the plan of the synagogue worship, as 
that was upon the statelier liturgy of the temple. The 
Scriptures were read and interpreted in both, which was 
the origin of preaching. Prayers were offered, exhorta- 
tions were given and songs were sung. Each was goy- 
erned by a council of elders, over which one presided 
which gave rise to the title of bishops. . 

Attention was paid to both doctrine and discipline. 
Indeed, so striking was the resemblance between the 
early christian assemblies and synagogues that they are 
sometimes used in scripture as synonymous terms. Nor 


19 


is this strange, since the first converts to christianity, 
who were generally Jews, would naturally adopt, so far 
as the Spirit of God would allow, the usages and forms 
to which they had so long been accustomed. 

Thus, from the very beginning of religious worship, 
Jehovah was silently and slowly, but surely, preparing 
the Church and the world for those sublime utterances 
of His Son: “The hour cometh and now is when ye 
shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, wor- 
ship the Father.” ‘God is a Spirit, and they who wor- 
ship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” 

No longer is Jerusalem to be the only place where 
men can worship. The veil is rent in twain. Jehovah 
is no longer to be esteemed the God of the Jews only, 
but of the Gentiles also. The visible Shekinah is gone, 
but the Holy Spirit is come in its place, so that in every 
place and nation, he that feareth God and worketh 
righteousness shall be held as an accepted worshiper. 

Wherever the Gospel is preached, and men come 
together, saying, with those Greeks of old, ‘‘ We would 
see Jesus,’ we would worship God, whether it be in 
cabin or cathedral, in tent or temple, there is the royal 
saying of Christ fulfilled, ‘‘ Where two or three are gath- 
ered together in my name, there am J in the midst of 
them.” And this is the crowning glory of every chris- 
tian sanctuary, the special and promised presence of 
Christ there. This makes such a place the House of 
God. 

Thus we have seen how from the earliest times God 
required that suitable places should be erected and con- 
secrated to His worship. If we hold that the whole 
world is God’s temple, and in a sense holy, we may still 
believe that in this vast and grand edifice there are 
spots, each of which may serve asa “holy of holies.” 


~ 


20 


Such places were the altar, the tabernacle, the temple, 
each of which constituted a never-to-be-forgotten demon- 
stration of the favor with which God regards places de- 
voted to his worship. 

He might have accomplished his purpose of saving a 
multitude which no man could number, by such a call 
and by such communications as He made to the ‘father 
of the faithful,” when He blessed him; but such was not 
his plan. It pleased Him to establish the Church, and 
to make that the instrumental medium by which the 
kingdom of darkness shall be ultimately and utterly 
overthrown. ‘‘ The Lord shall send forth the rod of his 
strength out of Zion, whereby the people shall be made 
willing in the day of his power.” ‘Out of Zion” the 
Lord still shines. The church edifice, builded with 
strength, adorned with grace and beauty, and by its 
spire pointing away from sordid deeds and grovelling 
desires to the pure and peaceful heavens, is an object of 
desire and love to every devout heart. Its existence in 
some form is an almost indispensable requisite for the 
existence, stability and efficiency of the associated body 
of believers —that living house which is God’s real 
abode. 

In deciding what form shall be chosen, what style of 
architecture shall be adopted, we shall find it safe and 
wise to remember what is the true idea of the Sanctuary 
as revealed in Scripture, and also that God requires 
‘according to what a man hath and not according to 
what he hath not.” 

If we can only worship in a structure that corresponds 
to the rude cabins of our forefathers, that is all the Lord 
requires. But as our ability increases He requires some- 
thing more. 

The Puritans built such houses as they could for the 


21 


time, and when richer, built larger and better ones. 
They patterned after the primitive christians, They 
felt, as I hope we do, that a house built to eratify pride, 
or to keep up appearances, or for show — must excite 
divine pity, if not divine anger. 

They believed, as every christian should, that the real 
power and value of all acceptable worship arises from 
the love and devotion that prompt it. 

It always shows a mean and sordid soul or society that 
keeps the best for itself and gives the cheapest and poor- 
est to God. 

When David thought to build an house for the Lord, 
he said, “It must be exceeding magnifical.” And such 
a house God had given him the means to build. So 
should men now aim to make their houses of worship 
convenient, tasteful and attractive, according to the 
means placed in their power. 

The essential and shaping idea in the construction of 
houses of worship will ever be the convenience and com- 
fort of the worshipers, that they may reverently and 
happily “sit together in heavenly places” in Christ Jesus, 
and may receive with meekness the engrafted word 
which is able to save their souls. 

When the corner stone of this new church was laid, 
the Society were exhorted to build it worthy of Him 
who, will be worshiped in the beauty of holiness,— to 
build it worthy of this charming and beautiful town — 
to build it worthy of their ample resources and the 
bounties of God’s providence — to build it as a tribute 
of respect and veneration to the christian worth and 
works of their fathers, and as the best legacy they could 
leave to their children— to build it as a memorial to 
tell all who look upon it or worship in it that God still 





22 


dwells with men on the earth. And thus, as any and 
all can see, they have built it. 

It was surely appropriate that the Old Congregational 
Church should take this forward stepin church architec- 
ture. It was the first church organized in the town, and 
for nearly a hundred years the only church. All the 
other churches have sprung from this. Its history runs 
parallel with the history of the town, whose two hun- 
dredth anniversary occurs next year. 

Such as our new temple is, we come to-day to lay it 
as a willing offering before God. The gift we have pre- 
pared we here and now present and pledge to the Lord. 
From the first day of the enterprise until now He has 
blessed us. We have felt that his quickening and en- 
couraging promise to his people in rebuilding the tem- 
ple was fulfilled to us: ‘“‘I am with you, saith the Lord 
of hosts.” Like the Jews under Nehemiah, the people 
have had a mind to work and a heart to give. They 
have showed themselves worthy descendants of those 
Puritans who seem to have had a horror of the idea of 
worshiping God in a mortgaged meeting-house, and so 
they put their hands into their pockets a little deeper 
and paid for the building before it was dedicated. 

The men have given most nobly; and the women, as 
in the building of the tabernacle, have been as earnest 
and forward as the men, ready to work, willing to give. 
As the well-being and happiness of woman is in a special 
manner vitally involved in the existence and maintenance 
of religious institutions, she should be ever earnest and 
active in the work of building and beautifying the house 
of God. 

We thankfully acknowledge God’s goodness in suffer- 
ing no accident to befall the workmen or the work, and 
in his giving them skill, patience and fidelity in per- 


23 


forming their several tasks. We are glad to see so many 
of them present with us to-day. 

The humblest workman on these walls cannot help 
rejoicing that he had some part in so noble a work. As 
President Lincoln said at Gettysburg, “ Posterity will 
little note nor long remember what we say here, but 
what these soldiers did here will never be forgotten,” 
so may we say of those patient and faithful workmen 
whose hands have’ reared this goodly temple. Our 
words will pass away with the occasion that called them 
forth, but your work will abide and be admired for 
many years. 

In one of the grandest of human temples, St. Paul’s, 
in London, the following inscription is engraven on the 
monument to its illustrious architect: ‘‘Si monumentum 
requiris, circumspice.” (If a monument you seek, look 
around.) And so can Mr. Mead, our architect, say to 
any and all who desire a proof of his taste, labor and 
skill, Enter here, and look around. 

If this be his first attempt at church building, what 
will his last be? ‘This Society, of which he is a member 
(as were also the architects of two churches built here 
previously), will not, I’m sure, forget to render him his 
proper meed of praise. 

And now it only remains for the members of this 
Church and Society to let their, hearts be carried over 
with their gift — that the Lord may say unto them, ‘“ Ye 
are the temple of the living God.” What a nanan for 
the Christian! And Oh, rane a thought for any man, 
even the chiefest of sinners, that he may, if he will 
humble himself as did the publican, lay his hand upon 
his hard and icy heart, and say, ‘“Z'his stone shall be 
God’s house.” Shall not some hitherto unloving heart 
be thus dedicated to God here to-day ? 


24, 


Only let the Spiritual temple within us rise in strength 
and beauty, then the beauty of the Lord our God will be 
upon us, and the work of our hands shall be established. 

Since God now vir tually says of this new temple, 
‘‘ Mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually,” 
let us ever delight to meet Him here. And let us 
always come hither in full sympathy with him who sang 
with all the simplicity and sweetness of a child, “I was 

glad when they said unto me, Let ts go into the house 
of the Lord.” “Our feet shall stand within thy gates, 
O Jerusalem, whither the tribes go up to give thanks 
unto the name of the Lord.” 

What scene in the whole history of ancient Israel is 
more delightful, impressive or instructive, than that pre- 
sented when they came up joyfully yet reverently from 
all parts of their country to worship in Zion, and to 
praise God in the mountain of his holiness! So now; 
the very act of our assembling is instructive, impressive, 
suggestive, the most so perhaps of any scene ever wit- 
nessed in a New England village. This worship is 
repeated Sabbath after Sabbath and year after year, by 
individuals and families; and the aggregate influence of 
such a practice has made New England the holiest, hap- 
piest and brightest spot on the face of the earth. As. 
those who built the ancient synagogues were wont to 
select the most elevated places for them, so our fathers 
were wont to do. And there was a manifest fitness in 
it; for above all other institutions (the family excepted) 
for elevating, educating and blessing our people, the 
meeting-house stands pre-eminent. And it all arises 
from the fact that the institution of worship is God-given 
and God-blest. Everywhere and evermore men become 
like the gods they worship. ‘They that bow down to 
them become like unto them.” 


25 


“These temples of His grace, 
How beautiful they stand,— 
The honors of our native place 
And bulwarks of our land.” 


] 


Remember, that as often as these doors are opened 
for divine worship, God and angels wait around to see 
what treatment the Gospel shall receive from you. 
While weeks revolve, and Sabbath succeeds Sabbath, 
your immortal natures will be developing. This day 
and this hour are the preacher’s words proving ‘‘a savor 
of life unto life or of death unto death.” 

We do not dispute that you may read more entertain- 
ing, elaborate and eloquent sermons at home. But still 
“God’s way is in the Sanctuary.” Still it pleases Him, 
‘‘by the foolishness of preaching to save them that 
believe.” | 3 

This always has been, and unless we are to have a new 
revelation always will be, the grand instrumentality in 
building up the Redeemer’s kingdom, both in the con- 
version of sinners and in carrying them forward to final 
salvation. And when we say this we magnify not our- 
selves but our office. The great difference between a 
preached and a printed sermon lies in this,— the one is 
God’s ordinance, the other not. 

I cannot tell, my hearers, how it is that nie a man 
stands in the pulpit and holds up the Cross of Christ, a 
divine power reaches the audience, humbling their 
pride, bowing their wills and melting their hearts. But 
how often has it been so! One hundred and twenty- 
eight years and five months ago this very day, not three 
miles from where we now are, was preached Jonathan 
Edwards’ celebrated sermon, ‘Sinners in the hands of 
an angry God.” While he was preaching it, laying bare 
the hearts of his hearers and pouring into their con- 

4. 


26 


sciences the living truth of the living God, they felt as 
we may almost imagine sinners to feel.at the judgment. 
It is said that some arose to their feet, and caught hold 
of the church pillars; some clung to the backs of the 
pews, cthers called out to the preacher to ‘‘ stop,” and 
the minister in the pulpit with him caught hold of him, 
erying ‘‘ Mr. Edwards, Mr. Edwards, is n’t God a God of 
mercy too?” 

Give that sermon, as it is now printed, to the skeptic, 
the infidel or the unbeliever, and give him also its real 
impressions on the audience that heard it, and ask him 
to explain it. Explanation there is none, save that sug- 
gested by the subject now considered — God was in very 
deed dwelling with men on the earth and making his 
own words, as they fell from the lps of his minister, 
‘like the fire and the hammer that breaketh the rock 
in pieces.” ven so does God often show now that his 
way is in the sanctuary. 

His divine Spirit goes with the message, inspires the 
minister, melts the hearer, and converts his soul. Come 
hither, then, as worshipers, and not as critics, Come, 
thinking less of human instrumentalities and more of 
the presence and power divine. 

Coming with any other motives you will give too low 
a place to sermons and sacraments. They are imperfect 
all, but are they not for that very reason wisely chosen 
to exalt the grace of God? 

While we therefore justly rejoice in our goodly temple, 
in its strength and beauty, in its comfortable seats and 
its beautiful and excellent organ, in its convenient lec- 
ture room and commodious parlors, let us so use all these 
appliances for christian worship and service that we may 
ever feel that ‘the best of all is, God is with us.” And 


27 


by his dwelling with us on earth may we all be fitted to 
_ dwell with Him in heaven. 

And may God’s ambassadors who stand here, realize 
_ their privilege and their responsibility, that there is no 
privilege higher and no responsibility greater than 
theirs. ‘There is no such throne in the world as he fills 
who stands from Sabbath to Sabbath in the chamber of 
men’s thoughts, imaginations and affections, seeking to 
mould them according to the everlasting Law of Sinai 
and the everlasting Gospel of Calvary. And may the 
words of Jesus be always uttered here in the spirit of 
Jesus. May the whole counsel of God as it bears upon all 
man’s interests, duties and relations for this life and for 
the life to come, be ever proclaimed here in a bold but 
brotherly way. 

And now, in the name of the Master, we open wide 
these doors, and bid all a hearty welcome to the privi- 
leges and blessings of this new Sanctuary. We laid the 
corner stone in the interest of Our Congregational Order, 
but in cordial fellowship with all ‘‘who are built upon 
the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ 
Himself being the chief corner stone.” We therefore 
have not one word to-day to persuade those who for any 
reasons prefer to worship in other churches, to come to 
us. They are provided for, and we seek them not. But 
for any and for all among us who have no place, no 
home, in the house of the Lord, and who still need, as 
we do, the priceless blessings of the “common salvation, ” 
we extend our earnest and cordial welcome. The poor, 
I believe, will be glad to see, our wealthy men doing so 
well by religion, and especially when they understand, 
as we wish them to, that this house was built for them 
as well as for the rich. Here may ‘the rich and the 
poor meet together,” and remember that the Lord is the 


ree 


Maker of them all. Evermore may this house of God 
be like the heart of God, open and free to all. 

And may the glory of this latter house surpass all 
others that have preceded it, not merely in outward 
splendor, but in the overshadowing and in-dwelling 
presence of the Holy Ghost. And to every worshiper 
here to-day, and in all the coming years, may this place 
be “none other but the House of God and the Gate of 
Heaven.” 


PRAYER OF DEDICATION, 


BY 


PaeY.. W. .L. GAGE, OF HARTFORD, CONN. 


We thank Thee, O Lord, our Heavenly Father, that 
thou hast not only made us capable of worshiping Thee, 
but that Thou hast enriched us with affections which 
cling to the places where we speak Thy name and ren- 
der Thee our homage. We bless Thee, O Lord, for that 
holy power within our blessed faith which can sanctify 
all the common materials out of which we build the 
temple of God, and make them no longer common but 
choice and precious. And though this house is made of 
wood and clay and stone and iron, yet it is built of higher 
and better things than these; and all are so tempered 
together, and interpenetrated with God’s spirit, that we 
think of this house as no longer built with untempered 
mortar, but hallowed through and through. We lay it 
before Thee, O God, in all its grace, convenience and 
-beauty,—in all its comfortable proportions,— in all its 
uses,— in all its great designs. It isa simple house, com- 
pared with the home of Thy glory in the heavens; and 
yet, Lord, because it has been built with something of 
sacrifice, and with something of a desire to give a wor- 
thy offering to the Lord, we beg Thee to take and 
hallow it by making Thy abode in it. We are truly 
thankful that we can make it over to Thee without any 
reservation : no human obstructions stand in the way of 


30 


its becoming, this very hour, the holy possession of 
God. And Thine itis, and shall be, O Heavenly Father, 
from the foundation stones to the loftiest pinnacle which 
gleams in the morning sunlight. And we rejoice, O 
Lord, that we can dedicate this house to-day to the 
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost ; — that in all the 
changes of time and in all the transformations of 
history, the God of the fathers is worshiped on this hill | 
top in the old words and in the old way and in the old 
spirit. We look back to the time when the good men 
of the past planted this Church: we think how simple 
was their life, how rude their dwellings, how plain their 
fare; we see the wonderful changes which have come 
over the life and manners and habits of their children’s 
children; but we bless Thee that their faith in God is 
the same, its symbols, expressions, meaning, all un- 
changed. And we pray that so long as this beautiful 
church, with its strong and sure walls, shall stand, that 
faith may be loved and cherished and protected, and 
handed down, not as a dim tradition, but as a precious 
trust, from generation to generation. 
_ And now, O God, we solemnly dedicate this house to 

Thee. From this moment, O Lord, it is Thine,—Thine 
from top-stone to base. O Father, enter in and dwell 
with this Thy people. Bless Thy house by filling it 
with Thine own glory. Inhabit not alone the outward 
structure, but take up Thine abode again in the hearts 
of this people. Accept this house not because of the 
cift, but of the giving, which is greater than the gift. 
And so long as these walls shall stand, do not forsake 
this house, nor this hill-side, but let Thy glory shine 
around this temple from age to age. 

And unto Thine adorable name, Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost, shall be all the glory, world without end. Amen. 


DEDICATION HYMN; 


By Rev. Samuet Wotcort, D. D., CLEVELAND, OHIO. 


I. 
This temple, Holy Lord, is Thine; 
Its strength and beauty are Thine own; 
These courts we throng with praise divine, 
And lift our homage to Thy throne. 


II, 


Thy cov’nant was our fathers’ trust, 
God of the faithful and the free ! 
Devoutly, o’er their sleeping dust, 
Our sacred tribute swells to Thee. 


IIT. 


We consecrate again this ground, 

And crown afresh the hallowed sod; 

Still, from this height, abroad shall sound 
The Sabbath call to worship God. 


LV 


The old and young shall hither flock ; 
Here happy households join in prayer ; 
The joyful saints here praise their Rock ; 
The burdened cast on Christ their care, 


we 


And when the house we enter glad, 
Shall miss our presence and our praise, 
In Zion’s courts, with beauty clad, 


The song immortal shall we raise. 





CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS, 


BY 


REV. 8. G. BUCKINGHAM, D. D., OF SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 





We are accustomed to congratulate our friends upon 
any event of great importance or interest to them,— such 
as a happy marriage, the birth of a child, the inheritance 
of a fortune, some successful enterprise, or heroic achieve- 
ment. And when it has been the result of great exer- 
tion, or much patience, or rare self-sacrifice, or strenuous 
and long-continued exertion, we join commendation to 
congratulation, and say, ‘‘ Well done,” as well as, ‘‘ We 
rejoice with you in your joy.” 

To congratulate you is to express sympathy in your 
joy. 

We are your Brethren in Christ, members of the same 
body, the Church, and belonging to the same branch of 
that Church; your prosperity is ours, just as your adver- 
sity concerns us. If we hear that God is prospering 
you, that He is uniting your hearts as his people in 
love and christian service, that He is causing you to 
grow in piety and abound in christian usefulness, and 
especially that He is reviving his work among you, and 
gathering immortal souls into his kingdom through your 
prayers and labors,— we feel as if a portion of the bless- 
ing was ours, as it truly is, since we are ‘all one in 
Christ Jesus.” And should we know of declension and 


5 


34 


division and backsliding and desolation here, it would 
be much as if our own vineyard had been laid waste. 

Besides, we are your neighbors; we can see your 
temple crowning this hill-top far up and down this valley, 
and when the setting sun falls on its spire, and is reflect- 
ed in golden glory from its windows, we shall think of 
you, and point out this sanctuary to our friends, and be 
likely to tell of your estimate of christian privileges, and 
liberality in providing them, as an example to the rest 
of us. 

But why are you to be congratulated on this occa- 
sion? What have you done? . What has happened, 
that your neighbors and christian friends should gather 
in such numbers, on this wintry day, to express their 
joy and mingle their thanksgivings with yours? 

Another temple has been reared to the worship of 


Jehovah, the only living and true God. Another chris-: 


tian sanctuary has been erected where the Gospel of 
Salvation will be preached, and men taught to trust in 


and love and serve the Saviour who redeemed them. It. 


is a convenient and beautiful structure,— suitable for the 
purpose so far as one built with human hands can be,— 
the best building in the town, as the Church ought to 
be,— and will stand for generations, a monument of your 
regard for Christianity, and of your estimation of reli- 
gious privileges. And when your children and chil- 
dren’s children shall worship in it, it shall be with ven- 
eration for your piety, and with gratitude for the faith 
and institutions and sanctuary which vou handed down 
to them. ; 

You have provided a Religious Home for those in this 
community who feel the need of it and shall choose to 
avail themselves of its privileges and refreshment. The 
ignorant will here be instructed and taught by Him 


ste) 


“who spake as never man spake.” The sinning will be 
here admonished, and some of them be led to forsake 
their evil ways and live. The weary and the heavy- 
laden will find rest here, the rest which only the Saviour 
gives to such souls. The afflicted and sad will here be 
comforted; the widow and the orphan find hope and 
help in God; and the conscience-smitten and despairing 
sinner, see on that Cross ‘ the Lamb of God which taketh 
away the sin of the world.” 

Here you will profess your faith in Christ, and take 
your stand publicly on his side, as against the world. 
Here you will bring your children for Baptism, and enter 
into covenant with a covenant-keeping God in their 
behalf. Here your young people will be joined in Mar- 
riage, and enter upon life with a new sense of its sanc- 
tity, and go forth to share each other's lot with a purer 
love and a tenderer sympathy and hopes that no earthly 
changes can disturb. And here too you will bring your 
Dead, to pay them the last tribute of respect and tender- 
ness, and assuage your own grief by the hopes of a 
resurrection, an immortality, and a Heaven of perfect 
purity and felicity which the Gospel holds out to you. 

When your children shall have been scattered over 
the land and over the world, they will look back with 
hallowed memories to this Home of their piety, and 
with tender hearts and moistened eyes recall the words 
that fell from that desk, the prayers that went up from 
those lips, the sweet strains that echoed from these walls, 
and bless you for such memories. And some, in death, 
will remember the Saviour they heard preached here, 
and perhaps trust in Him then, whom all their lives they 
had despised. From heaven even the saints may look 
down upon this Home of their picty, where it was born 
and kept alive and nurtured, and sing sweeter praise and 


36 


louder hallelujahs for the grace that gathered them here 
and here converted them from their sins, and made them 
the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Hven 
the Lord Himself will not forget this Sanctuary, for 
when He reckons up his saints he will remember this as 
the birthplace of some of them; for the Lord shall count 
when He ‘ writeth up his people, that this man was born 
there.” 

Think, too, what the erection of this sanctuary will 
have done for you as a church and people. It has drawn 
out the best and noblest feelings of your hearts. It has 
resulted in a liberality and harmony and enthusiasm 
which is worth more to this Town, in all its interests, 
than any number of thousands of dollars. Indeed, it is 
one of the wonders of this New Land, that with no aid 
from the government, and with no national ecclesiastical 
establishment, we can build so many churches and pro- 
vide so well for the religious wants .of the community. 
When that English Delegation came over here a few 
years ago to attend the Congregational Council, nothing 
seemed to surprise them so much, as the number of 
churches which the voluntary principle had gathered, 
and the number of church edifices which it had erected ; 
and they speak in their report of the score or more of spires 
which they could count, within sight from one and another 
eminence. ‘This is what you have done for the spiritual 
welfare of this community. Feeling the need of public 
worship and preaching, and the countless good influences 
of the House of God which, like the waters Ezekiel saw 
flowing out from underneath the temple, make the land 
fertile, and are life-giving to every portion of the land 
where they come, you have reared this temple and 
made it convenient and beautiful, and done it at great 
cost, and then consecrated it to God, and given it out- 


37 


right to this community, to be used by them and by 
those who shall come after them, for such purposes. 
And this is no mean gift; this is no ordinary liberality, 
Nothing but your high estimate of Christianity would 
have led you to do it. It is only a christian public sen- 
timent, a high appreciation of the Gospel and its influ- 
ences, a love for Christ, and love for those whom Christ 
has redeemed and would save, that does such work and 
makes such sacrifices for such an object. It has been 
nobly done, and right well do you deserve not only our 
congratulations but our commendations. 

And you may expect God to bless you for it. You 
may expect Him to make of this a better community,— 
to make of you a more intelligent and christian people, 
—to make your families purer, lovelier and happier,—to 
send out your sons and daughters into the world, to be 
a greater blessing to it,— and to add to the inhabitants of 
heaven, and to his own glory, through the instrumental- 
ity of this your gift. ‘‘ With such sacrifices God is well 
pleased.” Nothing we do for Him is ever lost. He will 
reward it, if not now, at the last day. But we see you 
blessed already in the very exercise of your christian ben- 
evolence and liberality; and this is the happiest day, 
probably, this Church ever saw. And we expect to see 
a new impulse given to your piety and to all your chris- 
tian work. We shall expect your families to love the 
sanctuary better, and to be more regular and interested 
in their attendance upon it. And we shall hope to hear 
of the bestowal of God’s Spirit, and a work of grace, 
and the conversion of many sinners, and the spiritual 
refreshment of all his people. Then, surely, you will not 
regret all that you have done for Him and for his cause. 

It is only too little for One who has done so much for 
us, and Who redeemed us with the gift of his own Son. 


08 


‘‘Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with 
corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the pre- 
cious blood of Christ, as with a lamb without blemish 


and without spot.” 


INSTALLATION SERMON, 


PREACHED AT THE INSTALLATION OF REV. WALTER BARTON AS PASTOR OF THE , 
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, SUFFIELD, CONN. 


BY RICHARD GLBASON GREENE 


MINISTER OF THE NORTH CHURCH, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 


“Let Him now come down from the Cross, and we will believe Him.” 


MATT, Xxvii: 42. 


To worldly eyes this would seem a not unreasonable 
requirement. Why should the Son of God, the King of 
Israel, be found upon the cross? Had He not announced 
Himself as Saviour? But what saviour is he who cannot 
save himself? Was not He the Prince of Life? How 
then shall He bow his head in death? He had said, “I 
ai the Son of God;” certainly then, the Father Almighty 
will not suffer his own, his only-begotten Son to sink out 
of life in the disgraceful agonies of the Cross. Even 
the disciples, half spiritual and half scared out of their 
little faith, gazing from afar upon their Master hang- 
ing between earth and heaven, may almost have 
looked to see-Him pause in his self-sacrifice before 
it should have reached its supreme point, — and, 
beckoning to the heaven with his wonder-working hand, 
call legions of angels to his side, whose wings should 
flash an awful glory through the unnatural darkness, 
while the cross changed into the sudden likeness of a 
throne, and Golgotha into a mountain of worship, and 
jeers and scoffs into tumultuous praise. Putting our- 
selves in the place of the passers-by — as ignorant as 


40 


they, as prejudiced as they who reviled Him, wagging 
their heads and saying, “If Thou be the Son of God, 
come down from the cross;”—or in the place of the 
scribes and elders and chief priests, so haughty, so self- 
sufficient, who cried, ‘‘Let Him now come down from 
’ the cross and we will believe Him,”’—can we not feel 
that had we been there, unhelped of some special grace 
of God, we should have been in the clutch of the same 
temptation and in risk of the same mad guilt as they ? 

The Jewish utterance in the text was the utterance of 
this world’s usual logic; in it we hear the key-note of 
the worldly thought about Christ and his death, from 
that day to this. Over against it in solemn, everlasting 
protest stands the rough and bloody cross with its mys- 
terious Victim suffering to the last. 

What if the Son of God had used his power, and, 
descending from the cursed tree, had saved Himself the 
last and bitterest ignominy, putting away from his inno- 
cent lips the cup of sacrifice before He had drained it to 
its dregs? The arrogant Jews might have hailed Him 
with acclamations as their King; the mob of Jerusalem, 
struck into a frenzy of popular admiration, might have 
borne Him to the temple and enthroned Him there as 
the Messiah; his name wafted to the imperial Court at 
Rome on the wave of such a miracle, might have been 
inscribed in the Pantheon — one more god upon Olym- 
pus, with one more altar of man’s unhallowed worship — 
a new god like all the others, mighty to deliver himself, 
and to seek his own pleasure and exaltation. But what 
then? Was this what the world needed? Had not 
man gods enough already of this self-seeking, self-saving, 
selfagerandizing sort? Was not man fully a god of 
this sort unto himself? What heart then, in poverty, in 
misery, in the helplessness and the hopelessness of sin, or 


, 41 


passing under the shadow of death — longing for a God 
tender enough to pity its woes, mighty enough to bear 
its great burdens, holy enough to be able to forgive its 
deep guilt — would have found that God in this Jesus 
whose character after all was plainly that of all other 
men and of the pagan deities, aiming at himself, living 
for himself, making himself secure in an easy splendor ? 
Had the Lord Jesus yielded to that temptation of the 
devil which voiced itself in this outcry of the scribes, 
“Tet Him now come down from the cross!” He would 
therein have yielded his very divinity; for his divine- 
ness was in that completeness of his self-sacrifice by 
which He emptied Himself utterly that He might fill 
others with wealth. 

To-day, this ancient Jewish cry is rising from men as 
they crowd in wonder round the cross. It is on their 
lips, or it is in their hearts. .‘‘ The offence of the cross” 
has not ceased. Still is the Crucified Christ a “ stumbling- 
block” and a “ foolishness.” ) 

Thus we may hear a boastful Philosophy making the 
requirement in our text. Coming with air of dignity to 
see what draws the vulgar crowd around this Calvary, it 
catches sight of Jesus, and exclaims, “Ah! yes; the 
Nazarene ; a good man in his way ; indeed, for one who 
knew nothing of philosophy, perhaps the very best man 
Lever saw. Plato even could not have figured a finer 
ideal of the human than this young man whose talks in 
the temple and teachings in the streets and fields, and 
merciful deeds, I have noted and admired. Yet, he can- 
not be what he claims, so powerful and divinely high in 
nature, so mighty as a Saviour, or he would not suffer 
men to treat him thus vilely. He seems a very good 
and rare sort of man, but an insufficient and begegarly 
sort of a God. I enroll him on my long list of teachers 


6 


42 


and martyrs.” Philosophy passes on, and Hlegance and 
Culture draw near: ‘‘ What criminal is this? He seems 
most low and vile, dying such disgraceful death; yet on 
the cross, above his head, his title reads, ‘This is the 
King of the Jews.’ This, then, is he who proclaimed 
himself the Saviour sent from God; fine saviour, indeed, 
who cannot save himself from such a shame. This 
shows how low it is possible for the uncultivated to 
descend in their beliefs; they say that there are fishermen, 
and women of the lower ranks, and such like fools and 
ignorant, who actually believe this man to be their 
Saviour and the Saviour of the world. If now, he were 
aught but a low impostor, if he had divine power, how 
splendidly he might prove it and commend himself to 
the upper classes and our best society, by quitting his 
shameful cross, and taking victory and dignity to him- 
self.” In our day too, as on that old Crucifixion Day, 
Pride stalks by Calvary, counting it an iusult to the dig- 
nity of human nature and the excellence of the human 
character that such a victim should be called man’s 
Saviour, deeming it the height of absurdity and arro- 
gance to ask the world to trust itself for enlightenment 
and salvation to one crucified between two thieves. The 
Self-Indulgence and all the practical ungodliness that are 
in the hearts of men, give their verdict in the same 
direction; for men feel and know to-day that Christ’s 
sacrifice means thetr sacrifice also in response; that any 
follower of the Crucified must be ready to crucify the 
evil that is in him, and to offer his very self even as the 
Lord made offering of Himself; that faith in such a Being 
and in such a work, cuts up by the root all their self: 
indulgence, casts out their practical ungodliness, compels 
them to the profoundest self-denial, and orders a renewal 
of their whole character, a reversal of their inmost life. 


43 


It is thus that the world’s wisdom denies the Cross of 
Jesus as the scene of any divine self-sacrifice ; that a false 
refinement and a deformed culture, while they cannot 
gainsay an esthetic and even a moral beauty in Christ's 
character and life, cast contempt on all the sacred mean- 
ing of his Cross, reducing it to a mere incident of mar- 
tyrdom ; that Philosophy scoffs at, and Selfishness refuses, 
a Son of God who is also ‘tthe Man of sorrows and ac- 
quainted with grief.” Hence arise systems of theology, 
and what is worse than any theology, modes of habitual 
feeling and action from which the Saviour crucified is 
left out as a degradation and an offense. Now in the 
face of all this demand that the Lord shall come down 
from his Cross that men may worship Him — this demand 
for a conception of God more dignified and glorious — 
it is for us, Beloved, to declare with a faith cheerful and 
serene, that Jesus throned on Calvary is infinitely more 
worshipful and august in glory, more evidently divine 
than any of the world’s favorite conceptions and ideals 
of Deity. The Church of Christ, and every man, woman 
and child therein, has it for its work to stand in the 
world’s most public places of life and influence, and be- 
fore the highest court of human thought, in everlasting 
attitude of testimony to this ideal of God as not only 
carrying the sole possibility of salvation for man, but as 
also in itself the grandest and most exalted which it is 
possible for the mind now to receive. This vision of the 
interior and consummate beauty of self-sacrifice, hidden 
in all ages from the worldly wise and great, is yet 
revealed in our day, as in every age, to all who are 
taught of the Spirit of God. The Church, following 
Saint Paul and all the Apostles, magnifies Him ‘* Who 
being in the forni of God,” ‘‘made Himself of no reputa- 
tion,” and “ became obedient unto death, even the death 


44 


) 


of the Cross.” Who undertakes to say that such a presen- 
tation of God is incongruous with the Divine Being? 
What! Shall it be called noble and grand for a man to 
give himself for others’ good; for the patriot to languish 
in chains, or to cast his life on the fierce altar-fires of bat- 
tle, if thereby he can save his country; for friend to give 
his blood for friend; for the mother to wear out her 
strength and yield her life itself in loving care for her 
offspring — shall the admiration of such deeds thrill all 
hearts, and throb through all the air of society and 
through all the space of history, and fashion the poesy 
of all time, and breathe itself forth in all loftiest forms 
of art—shall man, child of yesterday, poor, weak, sin- 
ful, possess and use this power of self-devotion in behalf 
of others, and yet there be no such element nor deed in 
God; no room in his Immensity for self-sacrifice ; no 
power in his omnipotence for stooping to bear in his own 
person the burdens of his offspring; no privilege in all 
his infinite compass of prerogative for Him to know the 
joy of self-denial that others may be blessed and saved ? 
For, if it be so, it were better to be a man capable of 
this hight and dignity which is within the reach of even 
the lowest of our race, than to be God shut up in such 
icy, loveless splendor. Or rather, what is man’s little 
self-sacrificing but the dim, distant, broken yet unmistak- — 
able reflection of that infinite self-sacrifice which belongs 
in the Being of God; and which, eternally operative in 
that Infinite Deep, passed into its visible development 
and its historic revelation on Calvary? This sentiment 
in God, of which Christ is the expression, is the key, as 
it is the cause, of whatsoever remains in human nature of 
generosity, magnanimity, selfdevoted love. Because we 
have such a God as we have — because our God is God 
in Christ, therefore do we yet in all that unbalancing of 


45 


our moral judgments and derangement of our whole 
spiritual nature which the Fall has wrought, count high- 
est on the lists of human virtue the men who yield them- 
selves for others’ good. Out of the Creator this great 
law of self-devotion translates itself even into the poor 
mute language of the brute creation; so that the lower 
animals, sharing though they do in that wreck into 
which man has drawn the material world with himself, 
are yet transigured in motherhood into what we proudly 
call a human, but should rather gladly own as a divine, 
similitude of sacrificial love. Thus this great element in 
God, first flooding the heavens, thence flashing its sweet 
celestial ray into dark places in man’s heart and history, 
overflows also into the spheres of the lower animal life ; 
writing from end to end of God’s creation the royal sig- 
nature of his Being, which is Love. 

Now, it is according to all analogy that so majestic 
and so practical an element in God should have some- 
where in his dispensations to man, its nucleating point, 
its center of developing force. Where is this historic 
center? If you can find in all the recorded life or 
imagined action of man, angel or God, a diviner self- 
sacrifice than Christ Jesus, then we will uncrown the 
crucified, and hail that nobler sufferer as our King and 
Priest. Calvary was outwardly but a low, unaspiring 
hill; though in spiritual fashion we count it highest 
toward heaven of all summits of the earth, because of its 
grandest, deepest sacrifice. Yet, if you will explore the 
world and find any spot of diviner suffering where God 
more visibly made Himself the Victim for his creature 
man,—then Calvary, precious as it 1s, hallowed by such 
memories and birthplace of such hopes as man has never 
elsewhere found, shall straightway be levelled, while 
some new and better scene of love shall rise to take its 


46 


place in men’s reverence and affection, and draw to 
itself the tides of the human heart, the aspirations, long- 
ings, claspings, wing-beats of the human soul, while the 
world shall stand. But till you have found thes, do not 
dare ask the world or your own heart to give up that 
cross which is the awfulest yet loveliest jewel on the 
brow of Time! If Christ quit his Cross, if there be a 
Christ of God without the Cross,— then there is no com- 
pletely sacrificial Christ in God,— then God has faltered 
and shrunk from his great gift of Himself to man,— 
then God is less noble than man can be,—then God is 
not God, and man is all the god there is; and then be- 
hold your universe drifting helplessly into wreck with 
no commanding Will of Love holding the helm with its 
serene and perfect and patient power. 

But indeed though many souls may be so blinded by 
the god of this world that they shall refuse to trust in a 
Christ who hangs upon the Cross, yet increasingly, Christ 
thus ‘lifted up,” has drawn, is drawing, shall draw the 
world unto Him. Not only the desperate need and dan- 
ger of the human estate, but also the deepest instincts 
of the human heart, cry out for some sacrificial Person- 
ality of God, at once bearing man’s sins in his own body 
on the Tree, and bringing out in clear historic ight that 
which, as it 1s to us the fullest form of love, is for us the 
deepest fact in the Eternal God. The need and the fact 
of such a Saviour, man’s need and God’s fact, are 
inwrought into the profoundest, enduring beliefs of our 
race. More and more, as history unfolds, as the ages 
march, does the Cross, which is indeed man’s example, 
but only as it is God’s sacrifice, gather to itself a new 
and diviner lustre; century by century it rises and 
towers; reverenced at first in only the timid, tearful 
wonder of a few ignorant fishermen, and some score of 


47 


despised men and women, it has long ago moved forward 
to the front of human thought, and entered as the vital 
power into the human heart,—ordering civilizations, 
dominating laws and customs, winning the many Gentile 
nations to the brightness of the Hope of Israel, till its 
glad light already waxes before our eyes toward the 
glory of the latter day. 

Consider, then, dear Brethren, whose pleasant and 
beautiful House of Prayer this day given to the Lord, 
becomes at this hour the scene of his Spirit’s gift to you 
in the fully constituted ministry of the reconciling Word 
—consider that you; Minister and Flock, are standing 
with the whole Church of God on the earth and in the 
heaven, in the most positive, direct, downright, unfalter- 
ing testimony to this one central ¢deal of God, rather 
to this one grandest fact of God, in the light of whose 
stupendous realness every other fact of history shrinks 
shadowed in eclipse — ‘‘Giod in the person of his Son has 
made upon the Cross actual though mysterious offering 
of Himself for man ;’—and that herein God's eternal 
Being and character have projected themselves in out- 
line upon these skies of Time; so that you can point 
men to God translated in the suffering Saviour; and are 
to make them know by Christ what sort of god God is; 
and have in hand the blessed work of proclaiming in 
this community that there is in the Lord a full salvation 
out of sin waiting for men, to which you are confidently 
to urge and beseech them in his great name, assuring 
them that there is salvation in none other. This minis- 
try of the Word among you will find all its strength in 
the future, as we doubt not it has found it in the past, in 
the holding up of the divine sacrifice for men,— thus 
joining in the long processional harmony of Prophets, 
Apostles, Martyrs, whose faith has beheld the Lamb of 


48 


(od amid the throne, the Lamb slain from before the 
foundation of the world; and who, inspired by that 
amazing vision have proclaimed Him in the good tidings 
of the grace of God. Be fully assured that all spiritual 
victory centers in the Cross, whether in your own hearts 
or among men to whom God sends. you in the steward- 
ship of his Gospel. Lift it up! | 

And are any here who have come thus far in life un- 
touched in heart by the divine sorrow of this Christ, 
whom they are yet to meet glorious on his Judgment-. 
Throne? Oh, you who are ‘ counting the blood of the 
covenant an unholy thing,” “how shall you escape if you 
neclect so great salvation?” What temptation of the 
devil is hindering you? Is it the wisdom of this proud ~ 
and silly world that makes you ashamed of your Lord 
Jesus on his Cross? Or, is it self-indulgence that holds 
you in the refusal or neglect of a Saviour who sacrifices - 
Himself for your salvation and calls you to follow in his 
steps? I charge you, ‘‘See that you refuse not Him 
that speaketh from heaven!” For He that was crucified 
shall come again in glorious majesty; then shall every 
one also that takes up his Cross and bears it here, count- 
ing it an honor and a joy thus to be like his Lord, be wel- 
comed into the life everlasting. That life is real; it is 
near; Christ has gone before to prepare mansions for us. 
Wait for Him. Wait, clinging to his Cross! 

















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sk A Nu EX, 


STATEMENT OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE, AT THE DEDICATION 
OF THE CHURCH EDIFICE, DECEMBER 8, 1869. 


BY D. W. NORTON, CHAIRMAN. 


LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: 

The Building Committee of this ‘Society: now about closing the labors 
assigned them in the erection of their house of worship, respectfully 
present at this time a statement of a few facts. Ah 

The jirst meeting-house erected in this town stood upon the Common, 
about fifteen rods south-east of this place. It was built about the year 
1680, some ten years after the first settlement in this town. By an extract 
from the town records, April 6, 1685, it appears, ‘by a vote of the town of 
that date,— 


Voted, That the Townsmen shall, upon ye Towne’s cost, procure a ladder, and 
alsoe a red flage, to hang out for a signe, that persons may know the time for 
assembling together. 


This “red flage” was used by our forefathers, as a signal to assemble 
for worship, until the year 1710; in that year, a drum was purchased by 
the town, to use for the same purpose. 

Near this church, stood the jirst school-house built in Suffield. It was 
about sixteen by Bronte feet, and six feet high, built of hewn logs, about 
the year 1702, some thirty-two years from the first settlements in this 
place. In this small house, Captain Anthony Austin, the pioneer in 
common schools in this town, first taught the children in Suffield to 
read, to write, and to cipher. 

Captain Anthony Austin died, in this town, in the year 1708, and 
no monument to-day marks the resting-place of his remains in our 
cemetery. Thus we see, that nearly the first generation passed away 
before any school was established in the settlement. 


52 


One hundred and sixty-nine years ago, the jirst meeting-house was 
built, on the present site. It was forty feet square; had three entrances,— 
one on the north and south ends, and one on the east side, or front. It 
had four gables, one on each side, with a window in each gable; the roof 
being in the form of a pyramid, flat on the top, around which was 
a railing. ‘The pulpit was on the west side, opposite the east door, 
over which, “with a threatening look, hangs a sounding-board.” It 
had two galleries, one tier above the other, the upper one being occupied 
by colored persons. The area in front of the galleries enabled us to 
look up into the interior, and view the heavy timbers of the roof, as 
there was no ceiling. Mr. Goodman Sykes, of Suffield, was the builder. 

In this church edifice our forefathers worshiped for about fifty years, 
where Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, the jist pastor, preached, and where Rey. 
Ebenezer Devotion and Rey. Dr. Ebenezer Gay were ordained. On a Sab- 
bath morning, the “red flagg” was put up, or the drum was beat, to notify 
the people to assemble in the house of God. We see them on the way, 
mostly on foot, but a few, from the more distant parts, are mounted 
on horseback, with their loving spouses on pillions behind, —their sturdy 
children on foot beside them, no wheel-carriages being in use at this time. 

It was from the front steps of this house, as a stand-point, that 
the Rey. Mr. Whitefield, during his second visit to America, preached to 
a large audience, gathered from this and the neighboring towns, the 
ladies occupying the church, while the men and boys gathered around 
the preacher on the Common. On this visit to America, Mr. Whitefield 
left Charleston, 8. C., about the last of August, arriving at Newport, Sept. 
14,1740. He preached at Newport, Boston, and towns in the vicinity, for 
a month and then left for New Haven, stopping at the principal towns on 
the way. 

On Sabbath, October 19, he preached twice at Northampton for Dr. Jon- 
athan Edwards. From Monday morning, October 20, to Wednesday noon, 
October 22, he preached at Westfield, Springfield and Suffield; in what 
order cannot be told from Belcher’s biography; but probably he preached 
at Suffield in the forenoon of Wednesday, October 22, as he preached for 
Rey. Timothy Edwards, at East Windsor, in the afternoon of that day. 
He spent the night at Mr. Edwards’, and on Thursday, the 28d, he preached 
at Hartford in the morning and at Wethersfield in the afternoon; on Friday 
he preached at Middletown and Wallingford, and arrived at New Hayen 
the same day. 

Dr. Edwards accompanied Whitefield as far as East Windsor, but wheth- 
er further is not known. 

Whitefield’s text at Suffield is not given, but an extract from his journal 
is quoted by Belcher, from which we learn what was his subject. 

On his way to Suffield, says Belcher, he met with a minister who said, 
“Tt was not absolutely necessary for a gospel minister that he should be 
converted.” This gave Whitefield a subject for Suffield. “TI insisted much 


53 


in my discourse,” he says, “ upon the doctrine of the new birth, and also the 
necessity of a minister being converted before he could preach the gospel 
aright. The word came with great power, and a great impression was 
made upon the people in all parts of the assembly. Many ministers were 
present. I did not spare them. Most of them thanked me for my plain 
dealing ; but one was offended, and so would more of his stamp be if I 
were to continue longer in New England; for unconverted ministers are 
the bane of the Christian church.” 

Rey. Ebenezer Devotion was pastor of the church at Suffield at the time 
that Whitefield preached there, Mr. D. having died, April 11,1741. A 
great revival was enjoyed at Suffield soon after Whitefield’s preaching, 
more than two hundred persons having been received into the church in 
the years 1741 and 1742.* 

The second meeting-house on this site was raised May 3, 1749. It was 
forty by fifty-seven feet, facing the east. It had three doors, — one on the 
east, north, and south sides. ‘The steeple was on the north end. Its 
interior was similar to its predecessor, except that it had but one tier 
of galleries, and a ceiling in the audience-room,. The pulpit on the 
west side, with a sounding-board overhead. In 1760, the Society voted to 
purchase a bell, to take the place of the flag or drum, and it was brought 
into the town in November, 1761. In the year 1786, this steeple was 
taken down, and a tower and spire built from the ground, one hundred 
‘and thirty feet high, at the north end of the church, well-built and 
symmetrical. It had a bell and clock tower, and in it a fine-toned 
bell was hung, and a town-clock placed, with two large and distinct 
faces. Master Joseph Howard, of Suffield, was the designer and builder. 

This house, with its tower and spire, was taken down in March, 1835; 
but the tower and spire ought to have been preserved for the church about 
to be built.+ Its successor, being the third meeting-house occupying the 
present site, was erected the same year. It was about fifty-one by seventy- 
two feet, of the Grecian-Doric order, with entrances of two doors at the 
east end of the edifice. The east end was finished with a Grecian portico, 
with a beautiful tower of the same order, about eighty-eight feet high, 
surmounted with a balustrade. The pulpit was at the west end, and 
galleries on three sides of the house. It was built under the supervision 
of Deacon Henry A. Sykes, of Suffield, at a cost of about eight thousand 
dollars. 

About three years ago, this house having become dilapidated, and 
needing extensive repairs, beside an insufficient number of seats to accom- 
modate the members of the Society, as two and three families, in some 





* This account of Mr. Whitefield’s visit was kindly furnished by Rev. Henry Robinson, of 
Guilford. 

+ It was in this church that the faithful Titus Kent, born in bondage, but who never felt 
the galling chains of slavery, performed the duties of sexton for some twenty years ; and his 
remains now sleep in our cemetery, without a stone to mark his resting-place, 


54 


instances, occupied the same slip, the question arose, What should be 
done to meet our wants? repair or build? After several months’ delibera- 
tion, some were decidedly in favor.of repairing, while it was claimed by 
others, especially the middle-aged and young men, as so many repairs 
were needed, and the seats could not accommodate all who wished to 
attend, and the spirit of the age in which we were living demanded of us 
(we being the oldest Society in the town) the erection of a new and better 
house of worship. This Society, at a legal meeting held in their meeting- 
house February 25, 1867, voted not to make extensive repairs on the 
church, but to repair the roof. 

At a meeting held October 14, 1867, it was voted to appoint a special 
committee, consisting of seven persons, to procure estimates for the 
repair of the present house, and also for the erection of a new house 
of worship. The members of this committee were Byron Loomis, 
George A. Douglas, Silas W. Clark, Charles F. Loomis, Henry King, 
Timothy Granger, and Doctor C. W. Kellogg. This committee reported, 
on the 4th of November following, that a majority were in favor of 
building a new house, and a committee was then appointed to procure 
subscriptions for that purpose. 

On the 13th of January, 1868, at the annual meeting of this Society, it 
was voted to build a new house of worship, and that a committee of 
twelve persons be appointed to carry out said object. This committee, by 
a vote of the Society, was afterward increased to fifteen persons, The 
expense of a new house was not to exceed forty thousand dollars, nor less 
in cost than thirty thousand dollars. The names of this committee were 
Daniel W. Norton, George A. Douglas, Burdett Loomis, Charles F. 
Loomis, Byron Loomis, George Fuller, William G. Ballentine, Albert 
Austin, Silas W. Clark, John W. Loomis, Nathan Clark, Timothy 
Granger, William L. Loomis, Hiram K. Granger, and Henry King. 

The old meeting-house was removed in June, 1868, and preparations 
for the foundation of the new house commenced. On the 20th of August, 
1868, the corner-stone of the new church was laid, with appropriate and 
religious services. As the work progressed on our church, it was found 
that the sum subscribed would be insufficient to complete it. At the 
annual meeting of this Society, held on the 11th of January, 1869, the 
Building Committee reported that the sum then subscribed was thirty- 
three thousand seven hundred and five dollars. Whereupon, by the 
recommendation of this committee, it was voted that the Building 
Committee and the treasurer of this Society are hereby authorized to 
negotiate a loan sufficient to enable them to complete the said house 
of worship. This was consummated. 

At a special meeting of this Society, held March 4, 1869, it was voted 
that a committee of six persons be appointed to purchase a bell, organ, 
and the necessary furniture for the new church. The names of this 
committee were Daniel W. Norton, Albert Austin, Burdett Loomis, 


5d 


William L. Loomis, George A. Douglas, and Charles F. Loomis. It was 
also voted that this committee be and are hereby instructed to invite 
the ladies connected with this Society to furnish the carpets, cushions, 
and furniture that would be needed for the new house when completed. 

At a meeting held October 15, 1869, this Society voted, that our new 
church should be paid for before it was dedicated. 

At an adjourned meeting of this Society, held November 1, 1869, 
it was voted, by the report of their committee, that the additional sum of 
about twenty-eight thousand dollars would be needed to complete said 
house and provide means for the payment of their loan; therefore, 


Resolved, That this Society authorize and recommend that a subscription be 
solicited to raise funds for this needed amount; 


—which was adopted, and a committee of four persons appointed for that 
purpose. The names of this committee were Dr. Aretas Rising, Albert 
Austin, Burdett Loomis, and Nathan Clark. This committce presented 
the subscription at our meeting, and over twenty thousand dollars was 
raised at that time; most of the Building Committee and other members 
of the Society coming forward in this noble cause, and doubling their 
subscription, or nearly so, which was reported at a meeting held by this 
Society November 6, 1869. 

The dimensions of this new church edifice, as it stands upon the 
ground, are sixty-four by ninety-two feet; including the chapel, sixty-four 
by one hundred and thirty-five feet. It has three entrances, —two on the 
east and one on the south side,— each leading into the vestibule. The 
tower is situated at the south-east corner; its base is about twenty-two 
feet square,—a clock and bell tower,—the whole surmounted with a spire 
whose entire hight is one hundred and seventy feet. 

The chapel tower is situated at the north-east corner. Its base is about 
sixteen feet square, and the entire hight about ninety feet, surmounted 
with an iron balustrade. 

The walls of this church are built of brick, with Portland-stone trim- 
mings. The roof and spire are covered with slate. 

The audience-room is sixty by seventy-six feet; has two side and a 
choir-gallery at the south end, and opposite the latter is the pulpit at the 
north end of the church. 

The lecture room in the chapel is thirty-eight by fifty feet. In the 
second story of the chapel is the ladies’ parlor, twenty-eight by thirty-four 
feet; pastor’s study, eighteen by twenty-four feet; ladies’ kitchen, ten by 
sixteen feet. 

The interior finish of the church is of chestnut and black-walnut 
woods, oiled. The walls and ceiling are frescoed; windows of stained 
glass. 

Built after the Romanesque style of architecture; Mr. John Mead, 
of Suffield, architect and builder. 


56 


The Building Committee, at this time, desire to express their sincere 
thanks to Mr. John Mead, the architect and builder; also, to Messrs. 
Byron Loomis, Burdett Loomis, Charles F. Loomis, Nathan Clark, and 
Timothy Granger, the sub-committee, for their faithful and laborious 
services in the erection of this church edifice as the house of God. 

The whole amount expended by your committee in the erection 
of this edifice, for excavation, grading the grounds, : 
flagging-stone, and bell, .. : : : : . $60,661 89 
Furnishing the same, including the organ, . : : : 7,675 43 





—_—_ 


$68,337 32 
The ladies of this Society, for carpets, cushions, 
lamps, &c., furnished the sum of . . $2,177 40 


The amount received from the sale of the old 
church and chapel, : : . $38,500 00 
Expense of removing church and chapel, . 1,754 56 Net, 1,745 44 


on 





$66,591 88 


In this connection, and at this time, we desire to speak of several 
donations: — A handsomely bound Bible (English edition), presented by 
Edwin D. Morgan, Jr., of New-York City; three Elizabethan chairs, for 
the pulpit platform, presented by Mrs. Burdett Loomis; a small marble-top 
stand, by Mrs. Charles A. Chapman; appropriate mottoes and texts for 
Sabbath-school room and chapel, by Mrs. Byron Loomis, 

This house being now finished, and about to be dedicated to the 
service of Almighty God, but one thing remains yet to be done. In 
behalf of the Building Committee of the First Ecclesiastical Society 
of Suffield, I now present to you, Sir, chairman of the Society’s Committee, 


THE KEYS OF THIS CHURCH EDIFICE. 


May unity, peace, and harmony pervade all your councils, for the pros- 
perity and up-building of the cause of the Redeemer in this place; and 
may the blessing of God crown your efforts! 


(RESPONSE BY H. K. FORD, CHAIRMAN OF THE SOCIETY’S 
: COMMITTEE, 

As chairman of the Society’s Committee, and in behalf of the First 
Ecclesiastical Society, I receive from your hands, Sir, chairman of the 
Building Committee, the keys of this beautiful church edifice, which 
- we this day unite, with the Council assembled, in dedicating. 

The Society’s Committee would tender to you personally, —and, 
through you, to the sub-committee, whose duties have been laborious, 
but faithfully performed to the end, — their heartfelt thanks. 

This Society appreciate your generous work; and long may we live in 
unity, and enjoy, by the blessing of God, the fruits of your labor! 


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